There are more than 30 described muscular dystrophies that range in severity, time of onset and distribution of muscles affected. All are characterized by skeletal muscle defects and progressive weakening of muscles. The most common is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a severe form of MD which is caused by the loss of dystrophin, an X-linked gene.
See also our page on Myotonic dystrophies.
General information links for muscular dystrophies:
- OMIM links for individual subtypes can be navigated to via the links under the human genes in the first table
- NLM/NIH's Genetics and Rare Diseases Information Center
- NLM/NIH's Medline Plus - contains links to pages for several of the subtypes